Accidentally Patriotic
Back in 9 July 2011 as Malaysia had one of the biggest rallies in the nation’s history, I was more than 4,000 miles away rallying for the same cause. I stood at Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia with hundreds of other Malaysians and well-meaning supporters. This marks the first time I was ever involved in anything politically motivated.
My friends asked me to be there. With little to do, I decided to go just to see what it was all about and joined the hype. Being in Melbourne mostly for holiday and to visit my sister, rallying is unexpected on my itinerary. None the less, I woke up earlier than usual, crossed the Yarra River, and walked up to a crowd of yellow holding up banners – one reads “This is a stupid yellow sign”. Indeed.
At first I was less than motivated, standing at the edge of the crowd and wanting to leave. But I stayed because one of my friends was really into it. One after another, people of some importance that I did not know gave their thoughts through a megaphone. “Great”, I mumbled sarcastically. But for reasons unknown to me then, I was drawn closer and closer to the front and before I knew it, I was mere feet away from the speaker.
Something in me flared up and I do not know what. I did not agree with most of the things they said nor can I hear them speak clearly but I stayed. There is a rush of emotion in me which I can only explain that is a mixture of proudness, pride, sense of self worth, love of country, duty and patriotism. What was it I am feeling that welled up my heart?
For the most of my life, I was many things but patriotic is not one of them. At a very young age I wanted to migrate to where I thought I would belong. I thought that Malaysia would only be a temporary location before I take a plane and book it out of here. And to be honest, I haven’t changed my mind at all. But what I learned is that no matter where I decided to live my life, I can’t choose where my life started.
We can’t choose what we were born into; just like how I can’t choose to be born unbelievably stunning good looking with the intelligence of Einstein. But what we can do is to be proud of who we are. And I am, with all honesty and pride, proud to be a Malaysian. Despite all the unfortunate and bad things that happened to my country, I know that many feel the same way too. There was this Malaysian student beside me who got so worked up and just went up and gave an impromptu speech. So I know I was not alone to feel that way.
I made the right decision to be at the rally and it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. I was happy that I am a part of something that is much bigger than me. Young and old, members of different race and religion, we all stood among each other for a common cause. Before this, I never identified myself so much as a Malaysian before.
However, let’s not be naive. Just because thousands went to the street, things won’t change overnight. Do we really think that this is enough? Our voices are heard but will they listen? We made a stand but will they bend?
The people that went out on the 9 July were merely a manifestation of what we are unhappy about. And if we are truly unhappy of how things are, should we not continuously try to improve our current situation? No, I am not asking you to go out and rally again. Insanity is, after all, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. What I believe we should work on is to let our unhappiness to manifest into different forms that will aid in the continuous desire for change.
I did not read a single news piece and watch a video of what happened in order to not pollute myself before writing this. I would like this to be my personal account unbiased of judgements and unaffected by opinions. The reason for this is because I don’t want myself to be fired up nor be cynical by other people.
Let this not be a one day thing. Don’t cling onto it just because it was a hot topic and there is nothing to talk about. Be consistent with your outrage and be consistent with your desires. And it is this consistency that I believe that would make or break it.
At the end of the rally, we sang the national anthem. Never really wanted to sing it during my school assemblies, this is the first time in my life that I was so proud to sing Negaraku. So are my friends with me then, and so are the guys to my left and to my right. I can see it in their eyes, as they can see it in mine.
That Saturday is not about going outside and showed you care. That Saturday is about an idea. The idea does not exist on its own but lives in the minds of many. The idea is not about yellow, red or black. The idea transcends race, religion and age. The idea was here before and will surpass us after we are long gone. The idea can be suppress and banned but never dies.
